Websites don't need javascript in general[1], webapps often need javascript.
[1] For example HN, doesn't need javascript, but for the vote-buttons, js is nice. With a pure html-page, the difference between a get with a vote-parameter and an ajax request shouldn't be terrible, with gzip compression etc. Maybe it's even possible to abuse something like status 304 to avoid a reload for a "/thisPage?upvote=someid" from "/thisPage" (with CSRF delegated to a document cookie?).
Granted HN might not be the pinnacle of graphic design, or UI -- but there's lots of room for improvement that doesn't have to involve js.
Unfortunately, every otherwise static site using a framework like AngularJS becomes a webapp by definition, whether they need to be or not.
I think a lot of the problem is that it's no longer considered professional to do otherwise. You can put a javascript framework on your resume, but writing your own html, css and javascript comes across as carving your own canoe with a flint axe, and the "minimum viable product" for more and more sites involves more and more javascript by default.
No one even bothers try to optimize, or learning how to think outside the box that jQuery and frameworks put them into because it's just assumed you can pile on as much javascript as you like it'll just work, as if bandwidth and RAM are practically infinite. And for the most part, that point of view is correct... but eventually, the end users are going to notice that things are slower than they should be.
[1] For example HN, doesn't need javascript, but for the vote-buttons, js is nice. With a pure html-page, the difference between a get with a vote-parameter and an ajax request shouldn't be terrible, with gzip compression etc. Maybe it's even possible to abuse something like status 304 to avoid a reload for a "/thisPage?upvote=someid" from "/thisPage" (with CSRF delegated to a document cookie?).
Granted HN might not be the pinnacle of graphic design, or UI -- but there's lots of room for improvement that doesn't have to involve js.